


no grand choirs

by tullycat



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Polyamory, Sickfic, as always there are many side pairings, very light on the hurt and heavy on the comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-23
Updated: 2020-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-12 11:18:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22162471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tullycat/pseuds/tullycat
Summary: 95 line take care of each other.
Relationships: Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups/Hong Jisoo | Joshua/Yoon Jeonghan
Comments: 12
Kudos: 182





	no grand choirs

**Author's Note:**

  * For [merryofsoul](https://archiveofourown.org/users/merryofsoul/gifts).

> this is my extremely late christmas gift for merryofsoul, so late i should probably just pretend I'm gifting it for no reason 🤭 thank you for being my writing partner and giving me such wonderful fics and just being my friend in general, i hope you enjoy this!! Thank you to karlarado for the additional help.
> 
> this fic is in honor of missing scoops, but I want to respect his privacy and not speculate on his mental health, so a cold it is! rest well seungcheol 💕
> 
> also cw for emetophobia near the end!! it's the very last scene talking about lunar new year if you need to skip it!
> 
> title from No Choir by Florence and the Machine:  
"I find that happiness is an extremely uneventful subject  
And there would be no grand choirs to sing  
No chorus could come in  
About two people sitting doing nothing"

Seungcheol is hot and sweaty against Jeonghan’s back when he wakes up, which isn't too strange considering he's a human furnace. But Seungcheol still being asleep later than Jeonghan is concerning. Jeonghan is very happy to claim the permanent title of last awake among his boyfriends and he’s almost offended Seungcheol stole his title today. On his other side, Joshua is looking at his phone, so at least he's feeling fine. Joshua smiles when he notices Jeonghan is awake and kisses him.

“Breakfast?” he asks.

“Please.” Jeonghan tilts his head backward towards Seungcheol. “Do we wake him or be nice and let him sleep?”

“Let him sleep. Your snoring probably kept him up all night.”

Jeonghan gasps at the audacity of his terrible and currently least favorite boyfriend. “I do not snore.”

“Never once in your life,” Joshua agrees. “You're a perfect bed companion and have never kicked me awake.”

“Is this how Cheolie feels when we do this? I should be nicer to him.”

After showering off the dried sweat, Jeonghan joins Joshua in the kitchen. Joshua is making pancakes, a typical Joshua-comfort-food breakfast. Ever since Joshua moved in, their kitchen has been a mix of Korean and American foods, which means Jeonghan has twice as many snacks to steal when Joshua misses home.

“Something smells good,” Jeonghan says, nosing the back of Joshua’s neck.

“Gross. I haven't showered yet.” Joshua tries to sound disapproving but Jeonghan can hear him smiling.

“Still smell like my Shua,” Jeonghan says. He detaches himself and slips around Joshua to grab plates and chopsticks. “Who do you have for Secret Santa?” he says in the same level tone, hoping to catch Joshua off guard.

Eyes not leaving the pan, Joshua replies, “Your mom.” Foiled again.

“Why won't you tell me,” Jeonghan whines. “Seungcheol told me weeks ago, you know. He loves me more than you do.”

“That's because you are terrible and I refuse to let you think there's a way you can win Secret Santa or help you accomplish it.” Joshua slides pancakes onto a plate and turns to Jeonghan. “Can you tell Seungcheol breakfast is ready?”

Fuck. Joshua is so hot when he's firm with Jeonghan. On his way to the bedroom, Jeonghan detours so he can squeeze Joshua’s ass.

He opens the door quietly as possible, but Seungcheol still rolls over as the door clicks.

“Jeonghan,” he croaks, “I think I'm sick.”

Jeonghan takes in how raw Seungcheol’s throat sounds, the new pile of tissues that appeared in the time it took them to make breakfast, and Seungcheol’s miserable pout.

“My baby,” Jeonghan croons. He crawls on top of the covers to kneel next to Seungcheol and feels his face. Even accounting for his blanket nest, Seungcheol’s temperature has risen since Jeonghan left.

Seungcheol’s head rolls against Jeonghan's hand. His eyes flutter closed, like he's about to fall asleep with Jeonghan cradling his cheek, and Jeonghan’s heart somersaults.

Jeonghan strokes Seungcheol’s cheekbone with his thumb. “Jisoo and I will take care of everything today, so you can stay in bed and rest.”

“No, I can still help.” Seungcheol wrenches his eyelids open and forces himself upright. “We still have to —” He cuts off and sneezes multiple times in a row.

“You don't have to do anything except feel better.” Jeonghan pushes him onto the pillow and Seungcheol sinks back gratefully. “We can't have you sneezing all over people, right?” If the cold is showing up now, Seungcheol has already been infectious for days. The exposure to the general public has already been done, but Jeonghan will not give him any reason to leave the apartment.

Seungcheol nods obediently and shifts lower in the blankets to prove he'll stay in bed. Jeonghan presses a kiss to his forehead, out of the danger zone, and slips out of their room.

“Shua, cancel all our other plans. We're making samgyetang.”

—

After a harrowing hour, Jeonghan and Joshua arrive at the store. Jeonghan first had to panic about why they had no chicken, to which Joshua helpfully reminded him it had been Jeonghan’s idea to survive on holiday party food as long as possible. Then he had to get the rice ready so it would have enough time to soak while they were out. It took another twenty minutes for Seungcheol to convince Jeonghan that yes, he would be fine if they left him home alone. “I’m sick, not a child,” Seungcheol had said, voice nasally and wooden from congestion, and he sounded so cute that Jeonghan wanted to kiss him. Jeonghan had almost caved and stayed with him anyway if the need to feed him samgyetang hadn’t won. So, store.

“I’ll get the chicken. We should split up so we’re not here too long. Shua, what are you getting?”

“I was going to get a card for my mom?” Joshua says hesitantly, like he’s waiting for the right answer.

“Okay, I’ll get chicken, you get a card for your mom and ginseng, we’ll meet back here when we’re done.”

Finding the chicken is easy, even if Jeonghan can picture his mother shaking her head for going to a chain store instead of a local market. He waits for Joshua at the front to pay for the items and almost texts to ask what’s taking so long when Joshua walks up.

“What’s this?” Jeonghan pokes the blanket Joshua is holding. “I thought you already had your Secret Santa gift ready. Did an ahjumma talk you into buying it? I told you it’s okay to say no.”

“I do have the gift, no one talked me into this. We just need a better blanket at home,” Joshua says casually. Too casually, like he’s nervous and doesn’t want his American accent to slip out.

“Hong Jisoo,” Jeonghan trills.

Immediately Joshua shakes his head. “No.”

“Joshuaaaa. Are you buying the blanket for _Seungcheol_?”

“I’m not answering.”

Jeonghan pokes at Joshua’s side, trying to tickle him. “Shua-yah, do you _looooove_ Seungcheol?”

Joshua huffs and tries to hide his pretty, delicate smile. “Yeah. A lot more than I love you right now.”

“Wow.” Jeonghan sighs deeply. “My boyfriend is leaving me, in the prime of my youth, when all I ever did was love him and care for him and call him pretty and suck h—”

“You can make it up to me by paying for these.” Joshua smiles again, and this time it's his peaceful, _I've never caused trouble ever and no one will believe you if you say otherwise,_ smile. Jeonghan loves that smile.

“As if I wasn't going to pay for you,” he scoffs, taking the items from Joshua. “But you’re carrying it on the subway.”

—

At the apartment, Jeonghan has another internal panic. His cooking skills are nothing to brag about (he made Mingyu gag once) and even though he’s made samgyetang before, he doesn’t want to fuck it up for Seungcheol.

“Shua, you can make it, right? You’re a much better cook. I’ll make tea for us,” Jeonghan says, back to feeling confident now that he can put the burden on Joshua.

“I can’t make it.” Joshua’s doe eyes are wide.

“Oh, Jisoo-ssi, with your rice maker and fancy childhood, never had to make samgyetang like us commoners.”

“My mom made it for me, but you two never get sick and I’m not going to make it for myself when I’m sick, and then I moved here so I can’t make it for her if she gets sick…” Joshua trails off and the silence finishes the sentence for him. This is why Jeonghan needs Seungcheol around too, so his teasing doesn’t go too far without someone to pull him back.

Jeonghan stands in front of Joshua and wraps his arms around his waist in an apology hug. “We can make it together. Then it’ll be filled with twice as much love and Seungcheol will feel better twice as fast.”

Joshua hugs him back. “And so your cooking doesn’t kill him twice.”

—

Seungcheol has dragged himself to the living room by the time Jeonghan and Joshua are done with the samgyetang and tea. “It’s too lonely in there,” he pouts, big eyes staring up at them pitifully from his newest blanket nest on the couch.

“Yah, Choi Seungcheol, you’re being quarantined. Being lonely is the point.” Jeonghan assesses the couch and Seungcheol’s placement on it, then hands off the bowl for Joshua to hold.

As Jeonghan coaxes Seungcheol into an upright position, Seungcheol continues to whine, “First you leave me alone all day, then you address me so coldly. Shouldn’t you be nice while I’m sick?” A coughing fit stops him and Jeonghan waits for him to finish before sliding behind him on the couch. Jeonghan pulls Seungcheol back so he’s sitting between Jeonghan’s legs and resting against his chest.

Once they’re both settled and still, Joshua gives the bowl to Seungcheol and Jeonghan wraps his arms around Seungcheol’s waist. “Is this better, Cheol-ah?” he asks, nuzzling into the back of Seungcheol’s fever-clammy neck.

“Almost,” Seungcheol says, his mouth already full of samgyetang. He looks up at Joshua, still standing in front of the couch, and holds onto his wrist. Jeonghan adds his own pout toward Joshua, in case Seungcheol’s general pathetic vibe hasn’t convinced him yet.

They make room so Joshua can sit on the opposite end of the couch. He lifts Seungcheol’s feet into his lap and Jeonghan adds his feet with only a half eye-roll from Joshua. He wants to be connected to Joshua too, even if he’s not sick. Sue him.

“Now it’s perfect,” Seungcheol says, wiggling his toes on Joshua’s leg and slurping the broth.

“I know you don’t mean the samgyetang,” Jeonghan says, though there’s a flush of pride running through him to see Seungcheol eating it so well, even when he’s sick. “Not even Shua could redeem my cooking that much.”

“It is good. Maybe even better than what we bought on sambok,” Seungcheol insists. “I can feel it helping my fever already. Hey, if my birthday falls on malbok again, can you two make the samgyetang this time?”

“Are you sure you want to risk my cooking at your advanced age?” Jeonghan teases.

Seungcheol digs his elbow into Jeonghan’s leg and _ow_. “We’re the _same_ age. But Jisoo’s still younger than we are for another week…”

“Not even when you’re sick,” Joshua says. “I’m never calling either of you hyung.” An evil glint surfaces in Joshua’s eyes, the one that sends tingles down Jeonghan’s neck, and he says, “If you can tease me, you must be feeling better, Seungcheol-ssi. I guess I can…” Joshua acts as though he’s going to move Seungcheol’s legs off his lap and stand.

“No! I’m not feeling better, I’m very sick and you have to stay with me.” To prove his point, Seungcheol fakes a few coughs until it triggers his actual cough reflex. Jeonghan hates the way his body tenses as he coughs and runs a soothing hand over his side.

“Okay, point made,” Joshua says. He digs a hand under the blankets and mistakenly pats Jeonghan’s leg instead of Seungcheol’s. Selfishly, Jeonghan does not correct him, but he squeezes Seungcheol’s waist. “We’ll still take care of you.”

“We’ll watch a movie with the sick baby.” Jeonghan takes the mostly empty bowl from Seungcheol so he can roll and make himself comfortable while they cuddle.

If any of their friends could see them, they’d joke about their oldest hyung being so thoroughly babied, but Seungcheol deserves it. He keeps them all running, puts out the fires that come from three people dating each other, and never complains. Ensuring Seungcheol is pampered within an inch of his life the one time he gets sick is the least Jeonghan can do. Actually. Jeonghan probably should appreciate Seungcheol more frequently. He makes a mental note to buy him flowers soon.

Joshua leaves the movie a little over halfway through to get ready for the party. Jeonghan cuddles with Seungcheol for another fourth of the movie, until he can sense Seungcheol falling asleep.

“Hey sleepy.” Jeonghan moves the hair out of Seungcheol’s face, then rubs circles on his palm until Seungcheol wakes up. “Let’s move you to the bed so you can sleep better, ok? I have to leave soon, unless you want me and Shua to stay.”

“No, you have fun,” Seungcheol says, half awake. “You don’t need to be here while I’m unconscious.”

After helping Seungcheol to bed and tucking him in with the new blanket Joshua bought, he finds Joshua in the bathroom. The party will be quiet since they’re all too old and too tired to go to bars, so Joshua is dressed appropriately — casual red sweater and dark jeans that hug his tiny ass — but Jeonghan will never turn down an opportunity to check him out.

“Wow.” Jeonghan whistles. He leans against the doorway and trails his eyes down the neck of Joshua’s sweater. “All of this for me?”

Joshua checks his hair in the mirror. “You know, three years with you and Seungcheol and tonight I thought, _‘Hey, let’s switch it up, see if Jun and Mingyu are up for a third.’”_ His eyes slide across the mirror to meet Jeonghan’s and he smirks.

Neither he nor Joshua would ever be unfaithful to each other or Seungcheol, but they like pretending to rile each other up. Seungcheol doesn’t like discussing either of them hooking up with someone else, even to be playful, so Jeonghan and Joshua save it for each other. Look, Jeonghan has eyes. He’s dating Joshua — he knows Joshua is hot. Sometimes he likes to think about all the poor suckers who also want to date his Shua and can’t.

Jeonghan steps close, so he’s pressed against Joshua, and slides his hands possessively over Joshua’s hips. “Yeah? Should I see if Seungkwan wants to do more than check out my ass when Seungcheol isn’t looking?”

“I don’t think Jihoon would let it happen without him. Not that you’d mind,” Joshua says. He tilts his head to the side and Jeonghan follows the cue to kiss his neck. “But then who would come home to Seungcheol?”

“We can’t leave our baby alone,” Jeonghan agrees. He moves his lips barely a centimeter from Joshua’s neck and whispers, “So I guess you’re mine tonight.”

Joshua swats at Jeonghan’s ass, breaking the mood. “Get ready, I’m not going to be late again because of you.”

Jeonghan backs away and cackles.

—

They leave Seungcheol sound asleep in bed with water, food, and an unread text in case he wakes up while they’re gone. The party is in full swing by the time they arrive to Jihoon and Seungkwan’s apartment (they’re not late, technically, but Jeonghan did manage to distract Joshua for ten minutes before they left).

Jeonghan whistles at the size of the new apartment. “Damn. I see those songwriting royalties are finally kicking in. Shua, what have we been doing?”

Joshua shrugs. “Being pretty and hoping Seungcheol doesn’t get tired of us?”

Jihoon scrunches his face to hide his embarrassment and pride. “Seungkwannie works too. Go compliment him or he’ll be jealous.” He takes their gifts and shoos them into the kitchen for food.

An already red-faced Soonyoung is clinking glasses with Chan, telling him to drink more, as Wonwoo and Minghao stand in the corner with amused smiles. Jeonghan joins the group in the corner and watches Joshua get roped into the commotion.

“Shua-hyung! Let’s play drinking games!” Soonyoung yells.

“Show them what you've got, babe,” Jeonghan says, both to be encouraging and because he thinks Soonyoung’s competitive side is funny.

Sure enough, Soonyoung flips into battle mode. “Minghao, I need luck!”

Minghao shakes his head. “I'm not involved in this.” He tries to stay firm but Soonyoung's eyes plead until Minghao is forced to go over and kiss his cheek.

“Chan, do you need luck from me too?” Wonwoo asks.

“No, I can beat them easily,” Chan says confidently. When he notices Woonwoo’s pout, he says, “_Ohh,_” very loudly and gives Wonwoo a placating kiss.

After Chan beats them at Titanic again and Soonyoung and Joshua have both drank two somaeks each, Jeonghan's phone buzzes with a text.

**Seungcheol** 💕  
thanks for the water ❤️❤️

**Shua**~  
❤️

**Jeonghan**  
you’re awake!!!! everyone says hi~~ they all miss you~ not as much as I do 😘

An incoming video call from Seungcheol interrupts the reply Jeonghan is typing. “Ah, everyone, shut up! Seungcheol is calling.”

Instead of quieting, the guys throw their arms out and yell Seungcheol’s name, like they can embrace him across the phone. Jeonghan opens the call and immediately breaks into a smile when he sees the top half of Seungcheol’s face poking out of blankets.

“Are you feeling any better?” Jeonghan asks. Joshua rests his head on Jeonghan’s shoulder so he can see the screen too.

“I think the fever broke. Your samgyetang is magic.”

Jeonghan could spend the rest of the night talking to Seungcheol but their friends are clamoring to talk to him too, so Jeonghan, magnanimous, generous, _unselfish_ person that he is, passes the phone off to the closest person.

Junhui’s eyes widen and he stares at the phone in panic until Mingyu laughs and grabs his hand. “Ah hyung, did you brain blank?”

“No!” Junhui insists, flushing. “Maybe. I suddenly forgot every language I know. You just can’t surprise me like that.” Mingyu stares in obvious admiration as Junhui continues in perfect Korean, “We miss you hyung, please get well soon.”

Seokmin lunges over Mingyu to grab the phone next. “I need to tell you that I’m your Secret Santa!” He exhales heavily, hand on his chest. “I think I would’ve died if I had to keep it a secret any longer. It was seriously hard not telling anyone.”

“Babe, you told me the day we drew names,” Hansol reminds Seokmin.

“But you don’t count, I tell you everything.”

“Yeah, I guess I don’t count.” Hansol smiles softly at Seokmin.

When they look like they’re about to kiss, Jeonghan snaps his fingers. “Yah, only Shua and I can flirt weirdly in front of Seungcheol. Keep the phone moving, he needs to rest.”

“Hyung, have you been eating well?” Seungkwan asks. Not waiting for a response, he continues, “I know Jeonghan isn't feeding you properly so Jihoon and I are sending food for you with Jeonghan and Joshua.”

“Hey, why don't you love me!” Jeonghan yells, lunging for the phone.

Seungkwan scrambles to hold onto it and yells in one breath, “Rest well and take care of yourself and we'll see you soon!”

As usual, the volume in the room rises with twelve men in it, so Jeonghan can't hear the rest of their friends’ comments to Seungcheol, but they all smile happily when they pass the phone on. When it finally makes its way back to Jeonghan and Joshua, Seungcheol looks tired but happy, too.

“Go back to sleep, babe, we'll be home in a few hours,” Joshua says. Even though he wants to say goodbye to Seungcheol, Jeonghan is content to let his boyfriends look at each other. When Joshua first started dating them, Jeonghan had worried the most about Seungcheol and Joshua's relationship. They didn't know each other as well. Clearly there had been nothing to worry about as he now watches Joshua stroke the side of the phone with his thumb, right where Seungcheol’s face is on the screen.

“And now that we've said hello to hyung, it's time to exchange our gifts!” Chan announces.

“Of course Chan, what would we do without you leading,” Soonyoung teases.

For his Secret Santa, Jeonghan gifts Mingyu a very respectable cookbook and passes out Seungcheol’s gift to Wonwoo, a new controller for them to play video games together. Then Joshua hands Minghao a bottle of wine and a reservation to go on a wine tasting date with him soon. Minghao looks so touched at the gift that Jeonghan leans over and whispers, “I thought there was no winning Secret Santa.”

“I said I wouldn't help _you_ win, not that I couldn't win with a perfect gift.”

Jeonghan kisses the smug grin right off him.

Halfway through the night, Jeonghan can feel a raw ache at the back of his throat. He sneezes and Joshua looks at him suspiciously, but Joshua looks like he's having so much fun that Jeonghan shakes his head to not worry. There's no point leaving the party early now. Might as well enjoy his last few hours of unobstructed breathing while he's awake.

The feeling gets worse over the course of the night but they make it home without incident. Jeonghan skips most of his bedtime routine, doing only the bare minimum so he can slip into bed and let a sleeping Seungcheol warm up his cold feet.

—

Without even opening his eyes, Joshua knows Jeonghan is sick. He’s the lightest sleeper of the three of them, so with every toss and turn and sneeze and cough of Jeonghan’s, Joshua wakes up too. Around five am, when the congested snuffling is too much for Joshua to bear, he leaves his sick boyfriends in bed and gets up to make himself coffee. Foolishly, Joshua thinks he can lie on the couch and close his eyes for a minute while he waits.

When he wakes a second time that morning, it’s to a kink in his neck, cold coffee, and crying emojis from Jeonghan. Joshua watches longingly as the coffee goes down the drain. He starts a new pot for himself and tea for the boyfriends, which he carries slowly to the bedroom so it doesn’t spill.

Jeonghan is wrapped around Seungcheol when Joshua enters, both of them quiet except for the occasional sniffle. “Looks like someone lied last night about feeling fine,” Joshua says. He nudges Jeonghan's shoulder to help pass the tea to Seungcheol.

“I didn’t want you to go home early. I was feeling mostly fine,” Jeonghan says. He sits up and holds the mug of tea close to his face, eyes closed and not taking a sip. Jeonghan sits as if in a trance, the steam heating his lips. Finally, he cracks one eye open to look at Joshua and mutters, “Now it feels like there’s a blown up balloon inside my face.”

Joshua waits until both Seungcheol and Jeonghan have finished enough of their tea to satisfy him, then rearranges Jeonghan’s glasses and book, Seungcheol’s watch, and Joshua’s tablet on the tiny bedside table so he can set down the mugs.

“Rest up now,” Joshua says. He refuses to let another pot of coffee go to waste, so he fluffs Jeonghan’s pillow once before going back to the kitchen. Joshua catches Jeonghan’s tiny pout as he walks out and grins fondly to himself. So needy.

When Joshua returns with a mug for himself and his laptop, he’s greeted with Jeonghan’s relieved smile and Seungcheol’s cold-medicine-sleepy smile.

“Shua, you can't stay here with us, we'll infect you. And then you'll be coughing and sneezing and feeling gross like us. You have to save yourself,” Jeonghan says as Joshua approaches their bed. “Cheol-ah, tell him he shouldn’t stay.” Nagging, always nagging, even when Joshua knows Jeonghan doesn’t want him to leave. It’s how Jeonghan shows his love.

“Either I'm already infected and I'll be sick soon anyway, or I'm immune, so move over,” Joshua says. Jeonghan rolls away from Seungcheol and close to the edge of the bed so Joshua can crawl over him to sit in the middle.

Jeonghan and Seungcheol both move closer to him as soon as he’s settled with the laptop — Jeonghan shoves his face into Joshua’s hip and hooks his leg over Joshua’s. Seungcheol is more subtle, curled hand resting on Joshua’s waist.

“You stopped protesting quickly,” Joshua observes. “I thought you were worried for my health? You sure I shouldn’t leave you two here?”

“I'm very selfish.” Jeonghan's eyes are already closed and he snuggles as close as he can to Joshua. “Of course I want you to stay with us.”

As Jeonghan falls asleep on one side of Joshua, Seungcheol wakes up on his other. His chin rests on Joshua’s shoulder and he slides his hand into Joshua’s. It’s only been a day of Seungcheol being sick, but Joshua missed him, missed his rock steady presence at his side.

“Thanks for taking care of us,” Seungcheol says.

If it were Jeonghan, or even if Jeonghan were awake, Joshua would whip out some sharp and teasing remark, something about ‘_it’s his job as their boyfriend.’_ But he’s helpless to Seungcheol’s puppy eyes when they’re alone.

“I'll always take care of you.” No gagging noises from Jeonghan, just Seungcheol's eyes crinkling as he smiles. As much as Joshua loves teasing and bickering with Jeonghan, he also loves showing his gentleman side and showering romance on Seungcheol, since he appreciates it more than Jeonghan.

Jeonghan's breathing turns to congested snoring. The sound grates on Joshua, making his eyes water sympathetically, but he promised Jeonghan he would stay. Besides, Jeonghan looks terrible, with his unwashed messy hair, red nose, dark circles under his eyes, mouth open to breathe and drooling a little. Terribly cute, in Joshua's opinion.

Seungcheol huffs a laugh when Joshua snaps a picture of Jeonghan. “He'd be fine with us seeing him like this, but you're really risking your life with photographic evidence.”

Joshua shows the picture to Seungcheol and they both coo. Jeonghan looks defenseless in the picture, but he can be petty when he wants. “I'll hide behind you so you can protect me,” Joshua says.

Joshua had been joking, but Seungcheol is earnest when he replies, “I'll take care of you, too.”

Shifting carefully so he doesn't disturb Jeonghan and so he can face Seungcheol more fully, Joshua holds both of Seungcheol's hands in his. “You know you already take care of me, right? All those times when I feel homesick and miss my parents and you make me feel better. Or when I’m coming home from work and you send a text saying you can’t wait to see me and somehow already have dinner started.”

“I want you to be happy,” Seungcheol says. He kisses the back of Joshua's hand and when Joshua smiles in confusion, Seungcheol explains, “In case I'm still contagious.”

Joshua would risk a lot of things for Jeonghan and Seungcheol. Getting infected with their cold doesn't even make it to the top fifty most dangerous or shocking of the list. He puts his hand on the back of Seungcheol's neck and pulls him in for a real kiss.

“I am happy, really, really happy,” Joshua says when they break apart. A piece of Seungcheol's hair sticks out and Joshua runs his fingers through it to flatten it. Seungcheol's eyes slip closed as Joshua plays with his hair and he sways closer.

“Can I put my head in your lap,” Seungcheol mumbles. “I think I need to sleep again.” Joshua guides his head down and continues to play with his hair until Seungcheol and Jeonghan are both deeply asleep.

Joshua spends the day with Jeonghan wiping his snot on his pants and Seungcheol coughing on him, but with both of his boyfriends snuggled beside him, it’s one of the best weekends he’s had in a while.

—

Seungcheol’s turn to take care of his boyfriends comes on Lunar New Year when Joshua wakes up with a stomach bug.

“Are you sure I shouldn’t come back? I can be there in thirty minutes.” Seungcheol can hear the worry in Jeonghan’s voice even through the phone connection and he wishes he could rub Jeonghan’s shoulders to relax him.

“Stay with your family,” Seungcheol says. “It’s going to be a 24-hour virus, it’s nothing to worry about. And if it is worse than expected, you’re still close by, right?”

“Okay.” Jeonghan hesitates on the word, like he wants Seungcheol to convince him further that it’s okay to spend the holiday with his parents.

“I’ll be with him all day,” Seungcheol says, low and soothing. “You know he’d yell at you if you came home when he’ll be better tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Jeonghan says again, more sure this time. “Let me video call him before I go.”

“Ahh, I don’t think he’d want you to see him right now.”

Jeonghan snorts. “Like I don’t know he has that ugly picture of me on his phone,” he says, and if Jeonghan is back to bickering with Joshua then Seungcheol’s work is done. “If he gets worse, make sure you call me. No, take him to the hospital and then call me. No, first take him to the hospital and then on your way to the hospital call me and I’ll meet you at the hospital.”

Seungcheol takes advantage of Jeonghan not being able to see his face and rolls his eyes. “I will take him to the hospital and call you in the appropriate order if it’s worse than a bug, but I promise he’ll be fine. Goodbye.”

Seungcheol rubs Joshua’s back as he vomits again, then gathers Joshua when he slumps backwards.

“This is horrible,” Joshua moans. “This is so much worse than your cold. Why me.”

He shivers, still in his soft pajama shirt, and Seungcheol holds him as close to his body as he can. “Probably all that bad luck from those chain emails you never forwarded in 2007,” Seungcheol says, patting his back consolingly.

Joshua’s laugh turns into a hiccupping sob halfway through. “Please don’t make me laugh, it hurts my stomach. Ugh, I’m sorry you have to see me like this.”

“I’m not. Love you.”

Joshua’s fingers tighten where they’re gripping Seungcheol’s shirt. “I have to puke again,” he says while struggling to sit up. “But I promise it’s not because you’re being cheesy. Love you too.”

As he lies next to Joshua on the dirty floor of the bathroom so Joshua can feel the cool tile on his face, Seungcheol thinks there’s no place he’d rather be.

**Author's Note:**

> you can find me on [twitter!](https://twitter.com/tullycat_)
> 
> thanks for reading!
> 
> —
> 
> I'm a white USian writing about a culture completely different than my own, so please feel free to drop a comment here or in my DMs to let me know what I've gotten wrong. I'd love to learn more!


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